Bellingham signs new power pact
BELLINGHAM – The town has signed a new electricity supply contract for the Bellingham Power Choice program that is more than a penny below National Grid’s winter basic service prices.
The new program price for Power Choice Standard is 11.5 cents per kilowatt hour, and the new price for 100 percent renewable electricity with Power Choice green is 11.52 cents per kilowatt hour. Both program option prices are below National Grid’s residential price of 12.673 cents per kilowatt hour and offer a savings of more than $5 per month for the average Bellingham household.
The new program price is also below Eversource’s proposed winter residential price of 13.157 cents per kilowatt hour. If approved by state regulators, Eversource’s price would take effect in January.
The new prices are the result of a new 12-month contract with Agera Energy. The Bellingham Power Choice program’s current 12-month contract with NextEra is set to expire with December 2017 electricity meter reads. The new prices will take effect for program participants with their December meter read, and participants will see the new price on the following electricity bill.
The new prices apply to all rate classes, including residential, commercial, and industrial accounts. Prices will impact the supplier services portion of participants’ electricity bills. All active program participants will be automatically enrolled into the new contract with Agera Energy and will receive the new program rate.
“Electricity supply prices in Massachusetts have increased since we launched the program,” said Bellingham Town Administrator Denis Fraine. “However, we have been able to negotiate a competitive price that is below the recently announced utility Basic Service prices, which means program participants should continue to see savings this winter.”
Bellingham Power Choice program is a municipal energy aggregation. By bulk purchasing electricity for the entire community through this program, Fraine said Bellingham is working to make electricity costs more predictable and more stable and to give participants more control over the price and environmental characteristics of the electricity they use.